My Fredrick Reynolds Barber's Notch Restore Project

[theoldguy53]

I received this razor in a batch of six I won on Ebay. Admittedly it wasn't in that bad of shape when I got it. I think the scales were in the worst condition of the razor.
Any comments, tips, instruction on correcting something or how to improve an area are welcome.

Here is a before pic.

I really wanted to save the scales so I proceeded carefully. Once they were removed I cleaned them up first before proceeding to the blade. I soaked the scales overnight in a bath of water and Oxy-Clean; I think this is what put the curve in the scales as you can see from this picture so lesson learned. The Oxy-Clean works fine on vulcanite stems but not so fine on early scale material.

To fix this I used the method I use to bend pipe stems. I used my heat gun on low to carefully heat each scale to the pliable state then plunged it into an old ice cream bucket with about two inches of water and a dozen ice cubes and held it in the ice water until it had cooled to the shape I wanted. I tweaked each scale a few times until they were once again flat. The scales were so brittle that I cracked the pivot pin area on the right side. It splintered like what happens when you try and break a green tree branch. It splintered but didn't break. So I CA-ed it and held it firmly in place with a piece of shaped 1/8" dowel and then let it cure.
This picture is the start of the restore process and those that follow.

You can see the split area and the mess I made with the CA in the repair. I cleaned it up as best I could.





Blade centers OK

Thanks for looking.

[BobH]

That turned out well all things considered. Nicely done.

Bob

[Gasman]

The scales look great concidering what you did to them. I dont know that ice is the best way to cool. I use two pieces of wood and clamp them. Still, yours turned out nice. The wedge looks like its not pinned as well as it could be. Gaps. Its hard to get a wedge to sit right when first starting out. All in all a nice job for something you hadnt done before.

[DoughBoy68]

Great job! Too bad the one scale cracked......

If you ever encounter another set of bent horn scales, after cleaning them try soaking them in neats foot oil for a couple of weeks. This will help restore the moisture and soften the scales which will make them more pliable. Then clamp them between two pieces of wood as mentioned above and leave clamped for maybe a week or so. This is a time consuming process but does work.

I'll bet she's a great shaver, most FR's are. They can be a bear to hone but will hold an edge for a long time once properly honed....I love 'em!

[PaulFLUS]

Yeah, agreed. I've never soaked them for THAT long. More like days than weeks but more is probably better. Not really the horn expert. That would be Mike's (Outback) department more. What a lot of people do is use a medium hot iron and thick paper like a packing paper cover to flatten them out. I use 2 big cast iron skillets heated to about 300°. Sandwich the scales in between and let them cool to room temperature. I have never tried the way you did it but I would be afraid the shock would make them brittle. It looks like the scales might be bowing at the very end and making them not sit tight against the wedge like Jerry mentioned.
Sorry, I feel like I'm picking it apart when it does look pretty good. I'm going for constructive criticism. Hope it comes out like that. You seem like me: if nothing else I have bravery. Sometimes you have to take chances and "just do it." You're doing good work fo the most part. It takes time and practice to learn all this stuff. Definitely get yourself some Neatsfoot if you don't have any already. It transforms horn like magic.

[theoldguy53]

Hey Paul, no worries at all man! Constructive criticism is what I'm looking for!
Thank you all for your comments. Yeah I think you are correct; the scales are bowing at the end but I'm leaving them. If the scales crack apart then I'll make new scales. I hope Masecraft opens up again soon - I have very little scale material left but I do have lots or exotic woods I can use.
Cheers all.

[theoldguy53]

Final comment on this FR - She shaves awesome! A wow shave with it this morning!
Thank you all for your comments. I have copied and pasted the the comments into a word doc and printed it off and it is hanging in my shop now.

[ScoutHikerDad]

Final comment on this FR - She shaves awesome! A wow shave with it this morning!
Thank you all for your comments. I have copied and pasted the the comments into a word doc and printed it off and it is hanging in my shop now.

Great idea OldGuy-I do that too. I'll copy and paste good tips from this forum on whatever topic into a word doc and put them in my shop notebook. I have many guys from this forum quoted in that notebook. I always tell my students that my #1 rule is "Check your ego at the door," and I try to follow that advice myself. I wonder if a young Picasso ever heard, "Yeah, that's a pretty good drawing, but..."

Anyways, nice old Freddy-I've got a similar one with identical scales that's overdue for a shave; they are sweet shavers!

[PaulFLUS]

...Anyways, nice old Freddy-I've got a similar one with identical scales that's overdue for a shave; they are sweet shavers!

A bear to hone fr my experience though. Often FR's are hard as a rock

[theoldguy53]

Paul, it was a bear to hone. When looking down the blade from heel to toe, it had a very slight wave about 2/3" of the way down which made full blade contact on the hone impossible.